St. Paul daily globe., 1887-08-15
AT CRATSWORTH.
Most Ofthe Wounded Doing WE'LL
4 Professors Opinion.

CHATSWORTH. H.. Aug. 1.-THE six
wounded who were in the town hall
passed quite a comfortable night and
part of them have decidedly improved,
Notwithstanding a very heavy thunder
storm. which lasted till early morning.
Mrs. X. ii. Clark, of RoutStown, O.,
whose limbs were amputatcd yesterday,
died at $50 this afternoon. Adam
Schornberger. of Peoria. is about the
same. The doctor in charge decided he
had better be removed to the Peoria
hospital, and he was taken there to-day
Miss Alter. of West Point, Ind. and DR..
HaZen and wife. of Fort Madison, To-,
are improving rapidly. DIR. HaZen de-
cided to take his wife and Miss Alter
home to-day. Mr.. Taylor, of MacOmb,
is in a critical condition, not having I'M
proved since the anputatiOn of
his limb yesterday. The other
wounded around town are improving
At Piper City about all the wounded
are improving. with the exception of
Mr. Stillwell. Of West Point, Ind. who
is in a very dangerous condition, with
very little hopes of recovery. Miss
Adams. of Peoria. and Mrs. Strachan,
of Syracuse. y. Y. are quite low. but
may possibly get well. There have
been no deaths at Piper City since yes
terday The remains of Mrs. n. j.
Hicks have not been found. Sunday
has passed quietly i'll this village, every
one resting after their three days eX-
citement. There are plenty of willing
hands to help the remainder of the
wounded who are left in the town hall
and different private dwellings. None of
the churches held service to-day. AL
most the last vestige of the wreck was
removed to-day or burned up.
CHAMPAIGN. H., Aug. III. O.
Baker. President of the Illinois Society
of Engineers and professor of civil en-
gineering in the University of Illinois.
returned last night from careful exam
ination of the engineering problem of
the ChatSworth disaster and examina-
ton of the condition of other bridges
and culvertS and the protection from
fire given those culvertS by road officials
and hands. He says the incendiary
theory has no foundation whatever. He
was unable to find any citizens of Chats
worth who had seen such characters
loitering about, as reported by that
theory The flames Of the burning cul-
vert were plainly seen from ChatSwOrth
at intervals for several hours before the
accident. From the lay of the land they
must have risen five or six feet above
the track 10 nave Deel Seoll 50 Tar. II Is
plain that an attempt had been made
to protect the bridges of the road
from fire, but a personal inspection of
other culverts in tlat vicinity shows
that it was not done So as TO afford COM
plete protection Personal inspection
along the line Of the road for sixteen
miles shows that the grass and weeds
were not all burned off. but many
patches were left unburned, and i'll the
immediate vicinity it was more care
lessly done. The culvert itself was of
the usual type and abundantly strong to
carry the train. hut for the lire which had
destroyed the lower timbers. He thinks
ii probable that the fire left by. the see
ton men late in the afternoon. who
were 10y their own testimony burning
the grass only forty rods away. was
driven down 10 the culvert after they
left 10y a slight change of wind. Other
wise 1t IS possible that sparks from the
special train of the superintendent of
bridges, the last train before the fatefuI
excursion. lindled in the grass near the
culvert and burned slowly for long
time and finally fired the culvert.